In order to study the progression or regression of disease in a patient or determine the effectiveness of a treatment, it may be useful to associate medical images obtained at different time points with the same individual patient. Although patient biographical data (e.g., patient name, date of birth, medical history, patient gender, weight, height, body mass index, hair color, or eye color) may be available to assist with this association, typographic errors in data entry may result in the same patient having different patient biographical data (e.g., two slightly different names or birthdates) in a medical record. Additionally, some patients may share the same patient biographical data. For example, some patients with common names may share the same birthdate. Further, as patients move to different hospitals, patient biographical data may be stored differently across hospitals or may be unavailable at one or more locations.
Biometric methods may exist for matching 2D infrared images of vein patterns in the palm or finger to establish a person's identity. However, these methods may not address the complexities that arise when matching medical images to a patient, in the context of diagnosis or treatment, for several reasons. Unlike the images of the veins of a palm or finger obtained for security purposes, medical images of a patient may be affected by substantial changes due to age, disease progression or regression, treatment, medical intervention (e.g., placement of a stent, bypass, resection, ablation, embolization, amputation, etc.), trauma, and/or care. Unlike image acquisition of a patient in the context of medical diagnosis or treatment, an image acquisition of the vein pattern of a palm or finger in the context of security may be controlled, such that the same field of view is captured, and the imaging equipment may be standardized to use the same device for all images. In contrast, there may be differences in medical image acquisition protocol (e.g., reconstruction kernels, patient preparation protocol, patient physiological state at the time of imaging, imaging field of view, etc.), medical imaging device (e.g., spatial or temporal resolution, scanner vendor or model, etc.) and/or medical imaging modality (e.g., computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance (MR), positron emission tomography (PET), single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), angiography, etc.), when matching medical images to a patient. Unlike images of a vein pattern in a palm or finger obtained for security purposes, medical images of a patient may change as a result of a patient's preparation or physiological state. Foreign bodies (e.g., implanted medical devices) may be unlikely to be present in the images of a palm or finger, unlike medical images of a patient's anatomy. Unlike infrared imaging, which is used for matching vein patterns, medical imaging equipment used for patients may be prone to the imaging artifacts (e.g., metal artifacts in CT).
Therefore, a need exists for an automated system and method of linking medical images of the same patient, even in the presence of typographic errors, duplicate patient biographical data (e.g., names, birthdates, etc.), multiple medical institutions, and/or various platforms for electronic medical records, and which may overcome the limitations of biometric methods matching 2D infrared images of vein patterns. Furthermore, a need exists for a system and method of matching medical images that may be augmented by using patient biographical data (e.g., patient name, date of birth, gender, weight, height, body mass index, hair color, eye color, etc.) to enhance the opportunity to provide a reliable association of multiple images to a patient.
The foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure.